How to Get into Google?

Question

Traditionally it seems there are some possible ways you could model a career that will lend you at Google, for instance, some join an Ivy League University, others create some core open source technology or startups which gets acquired, others get accredited into Google Experts Community, while others get referred. Another weird story was a person who was working for a contractor of Google and later joined them as it was acquired. I would like to know if you were starting from beginner level as a developer, how would you model your journey to best-fit the ideal Google candidate? What are some stories(or tips) you've had, or experienced.

logicslave · Accepted Answer

You dont need to do any of those things. You just study algorithms obsessively. Forget about developing any kind of skillset. Go to leetcode.com and do 500 problems, then stroll into google

ijuhoor · Answer

Disclaimer: Googler here. There are many ways to land a job at Google:
1 - work somewhere else then after couple of years of xp in a field try to find a job opening that matches your xp (that’s how i got in).
2 - if you are in Uni, apply for internship. We always welcome interns.
3 - apprenticeship: there is a program so that you can start working after college. I know some people went this route and are now full time employees.
4 - other ways like PhD etc...
Bottom line is: you don’t need a fancy uni (I did a state uni in france). What’s important is that you are good at what you do and you do it for yourself, not just to work in a FAANG company.
Tips: Skills that Google is looking for: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, analysis of trade offs and being a genuinely nice person.
Books that got me into Google: The Algorithm Design Manual by Skienna Grokking Algorithms by Aditya Bhargava

robertbalent · Answer

As mentioned before, work on your Leetcode skills. Be sure you can talk while solving them on whiteboard.
From books I like "Elements of Programming Interviews" and also "Cracking the coding interview", even though it's little lightweight.
Then make your LinkedIn profile nice and shiny and contact the recruiters.

giantg2 · Answer

Honestly, I wouldn't care. I think the goal of joining any specific company isn't necessarily the best. I would want to make myself a strong candidate for multiple places by focusing on whatever technology/business acumen interests me. I wouldn't really want to work at a place that I have to game the metrics to get into.

mraza007 · Answer

Apologize in advance if this sounds dumb but can you land fulltime position in google ithout getting leetcode asked in the interview but based on your solid profile such as working on popular open source projects or being developer of a widely used framework/library .

samfisher83 · Answer

I think they interview pretty much everyone. Just put software engineer as your job tittle. You just got to grind on leetcode.

speedgoose · Answer

I was told that Google can also contact you with a nice job offer.

one2know · Answer

Over about 15 years of observing who got in I would say, be a VERY conspicuous leftist. Pretend to be LGBTQ+ as that is very common in the academic world as well as large left leaning institutions such as Google. List your pronouns on Linkedin so everyone can see your signals.I've known some that have worn VERY conspicuous clothing every day such that it can't be avoided or not talked about. Have a "hidden genius story" like you dropped out of high school but are now an idiot savant genius developer. These are all real world cases of google hires I know.